This invention pertains to a mooring device and more particularly to an adjustable boat mooring device used to secure a boat to a dock, pier, or piling.
There are many devices in use for mooring a boat to a dock to prevent the boat from striking the dock. Generally, these devices are mounted to the dock or mounted between the dock and the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,945 to Tebo, Jr. discloses a boat mooring standoff with the first end permanently mounted to the dock and the second end attached with a rope to a dockside mooring cleat on the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,421 to Velarde discloses a boat mooring standoff used to attach a boat to a dock or a boat to another boat. The boat mooring standoff is secured by a flexible line that extends through the interior channel of the device. The first end of the flexible line is attached to the dockside mooring cleat on the boat and the second end of the flexible line is attached to the dock.
These devices are designed to utilize the dock to hold the boat in a fixed position away from the dock. These devices have very little flexibility and do not compensate for movement of the boat caused by large waves or tidal changes.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,789,033 to Doig, et al. discloses a boat mooring system with an arm assembly mounted to the dock and extending at a desired angle over the side of the boat. A mooring line is connected from the arm assembly to a dockside mooring cleat on the boat.
This device provides more flexibility to compensate for movement of the boat caused by large waves, but it is mounted on the dock and utilizes the dock to hold the boat in a fixed position away from the dock.
Limitations of prior art which utilize the dock to mount or attach a boat mooring standoff make it desirable to mount a boat mooring standoff on a boat to compensate for movement of the boat caused by large waves or tidal changes and to become a part of the boat instead of a part of the dock or an arm between the dock and the boat. It is also desirable to attach a boat mooring standoff to a boat using the boat mooring cleat on the side of the boat located furthest from the dock instead of attaching the boat mooring standoff to the boat mooring cleat on the side of the boat closest to the dock to provide more flexibility to the boat mooring standoff in order to compensate for movement of the boat caused by large waves and to insure the boat mooring standoff is firmly attached to the boat. In order to compensate for the difference in the distance between the dock, pier, or piling and the stern boat mooring cleat compared to the distance between the dock, pier, or piling and the bow boat mooring cleat, it is desirable to have a boat mooring standoff that is adjustable.